The invention relates to a crawler running gear, particularly for a construction machine, with a mid-section and two crawler supports, the crawler supports being located along a longitudinal direction on both longitudinal sides of the mid-section and are detachably fixed to crossbeams, which are displaceably mounted in a transverse direction on the mid-section. Each of the crossbeams has on its end directed towards the crawler support at least one zonally tapering mounting journal for insertion in mounting holes on the crawler supports as well as to a method for the installation thereof.
Such crawler running gears are more particularly used in construction machines, e.g. excavators, grabs, cranes, bulldozers, etc. as a result of their good cross-country characteristics. For adjusting the track width it is known to move the two crawler supports along the longitudinal sides of a mid-section. This makes it possible to set a maximum track width in operation, which increases the stability of the construction machine. However, a reduction of the track width is advantageous for transporting the construction machine to and from the building site. To increase transportability it is also known to completely remove the crawler supports from the crawler running gear. Thus, the crawler supports can be transported separately from the mid-section, which reduces both the dimensions and the weight of the components to be transported.
A crawler running gear of the aforementioned type is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 5,598,896. In the known crawler running gear, the crawler supports are each detachably fixed to two displaceable crossbeams via perforated plates and a plurality of threaded bolts.
However, at construction sites, attaching the crawler supports to the crossbeams can be very difficult, since the crawler supports, which are several meters long and weigh several tons, must be precisely adjusted with respect to the crossbeams so that the holes in the perforated plates are aligned with the threaded bolts. Such a precise setting is time consuming. It is also necessary to have special lifting apparatus in order to adjust the tonne-weight crawler supports with respect to the crossbeams with the required degree of precision.
A crawler running gear of the aforementioned type is known from EP 803 428 Al. Over their entire length the displaceable crossbeams have an angular cross-section and are provided on the top of their free ends with a bevel. For installation of the crawler supports once again a very precise alignment of the crossbeams is necessary. It is also difficult to produce a precise bevel.